I started looking for housing near Potsdam months before I arrived. I couldn’t find anything, I increased my budget significantly, but still could not find a place. It was cause for immense stress for me. I rented an Airbnb and was lucky to have a friend in Berlin with whom I could stay, but I was looking for accommodation full time, and I couldn’t attend or keep up with my classes. Now it takes me 1.5 hrs to get to class and it’s very difficult, especially with waiting times, I spend an average of 3.5-4 hrs on travel, and I don’t have time to find part-time work or meet up with anyone. I could only find my current place as a sublet, then I went through a lot of trouble to get a contract for this place as well, I had to wait for months during my finals, in stress. Many times I couldn’t get to class because trains were cancelled unexpectedly, delays caused me to miss my connections or a strike happened.